ASRock, the motherboard professional turns itself into a smart home specialist with X10 IoT router

Source: Hao Yu Yi

Date: 2017/02/10

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ASRock, the Taiwan-based company started in the field of motherboard manufacturing since year 2002, has launched its groundbreaking IoT router, X10, designed specially for the applications of smart home. Being the launch after G10, the first generation of the company’s IoT router, X10 not only keeps the merits of G10’s infrared remote control, but also features the better smart home communication and control via the cloud services and Zigbee protocol.

“With ASRock X10, there is no need to use a separate hub to connect all the appliances at home anymore”, said the New Department manager of ASRock Kenyt Lee, ” It is a quad-core AC1300 Dual band router supporting various Zigbee IoT devices.”

High total cost of ownership is hindering the mass adoption of smart home in the field market. ASRock intends to enable users to build the complete home automation within one device. “So that users do not need to buy extra hubs or controllers to network with all sorts of smart home devices. And the price of X10 is really appealing,” said Lee. According to him, X10 is set US$129 at the retail price and available at the most U.S. retail channels in March 2017.

Looking for partnerships in professional channels

Beyond the retail channels, ASRock looks for the partnership in professional channels such as home automation system integrators and services providers around the world. Lee revealed, “To enable the easier integration with our potential partnership in the professional market, we will open the API of X10. At the moment, X10 works well with Swann, Samsung SmartThings, Philips Hue and Secuify. And we welcome more collaboration with more brands.” He also added that X10 has been compatible with Amazon web services, which facilitate more flexibility for professional integration in various applications.

X10 provides four working modes: the router, bridge, AP and repeater modes. With P2P technology inside, plus cloud services, X10 carries out the true IFTTT-like remote control solution for home appliances. Lee gave an example. “When the house owner enter the driveway, the garage door opens automatically; that is because X10 can automatically trigger IoT devices through your GPS location. This is the geofence function of X10,” said Lee. Featuring parental control, X10 can separately address Kids SSID for children to filter harmful contents without affect other home users.

For wider coverage, multiple X10 routers can be configured together in one ASRock APP. “For example, you have the first X10 in living room to control TV, smart lightbulb and air conditioner; the second X10 in bedroom to control motion sensors and other devices and the third X10 in kitchen to control fans via smart plugs, water sensors. All the control can be complete within one ASRock APP.”

As one of key hardware features, X10 is also the universal IR remote controllers via two modes, learning and cloud list. “There are thousands of appliances which could be able remotely controlled by the X10 router. The database of tons of home appliances are preserved in our cloud, users can download it by pressing a button, which makes home automation works more efficiently.”

LoRa, to be added

To strengthen its foothold in smart home, AsRock is developing its own-branded smart devices such as smart plug, door and motion sensors to complete its lineups.

In addition to Zigbee, AsRock is planning to enable LoRa connection for X10. “LoRa featuring long-rang and low-power consumption is the prevailing technology choice for building IoT networks worldwide. By enabling X10 the LoRa connection, we can develop even more smart IoT application in the professional sectors such as hotels, smart communities or parts of smart city deployments,” explained Lee.